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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27677576">contrapposto</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_edmund_pevensie/pseuds/queen_edmund_pevensie'>queen_edmund_pevensie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Advent 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Originals (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:33:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>582</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27677576</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_edmund_pevensie/pseuds/queen_edmund_pevensie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>hayley is faced with a choice -- a choice to save her pack and provide a future for her child or to be with elijah. klaus is faced with a choice -- a choice to trust someone besides himself with the fate of his family. tag for the missing scenes in 2x08/2x09.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hayley Marshall &amp; Hope Mikaelson &amp; Klaus Mikaelson, Hayley Marshall &amp; Klaus Mikaelson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Advent 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023931</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>contrapposto</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>from tumblr prompt list: https://edmundsmercy.tumblr.com/post/629014997640642560/send-me-a-ship-and-one-of-these-and-ill-write-a#notes </p><p>#19 klayley - things you said when we were the happiest we ever were.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I’m proud of you, Hayley,” Klaus says, in spite of himself, three hours into their seven hour drive to see Hope. It’s been quiet, since Hayley told him her plans to take back the city, to take back the wolves. “For doing this, for your pack, for our daughter.”</p><p>“I can’t let the wolves stay under your mother’s control,” Hayley says, shaking her head. “This isn’t a sacrifice I’m making for Hope. This is her future. The wolves are her pack too.”</p><p>Klaus tries to imagine a future for his child where she isn’t ashamed of her ties to the wolves, where she can embrace that side of her the way Hayley has, where her daughter inherits the pack when Hayley has moved on. His parents terrorizing the city left behind in his rear-view mirror seem trivial now. Elijah is right; he will vanquish them, and Dahlia too if need be. Suddenly, they’re not just making the city safe for his daughter – they’re building her legacy, her kingdom. They’ve been in tune since she’s turned, perhaps more than they’ve ever been before. A hybrid, like him, devoted to his family and to Hope, like him. But she’s better than him, too. He can admit that, privately, to himself. All the guidance she still needs – as a vampire and as a leader – Klaus knows that she is better and stronger than him in more ways than he can yet tell. But firstly – she has given herself over so easily to the wolves, since her very first day in New Orleans. She left behind the girl he met in Mystic Falls who was too single minded to care about the lives of her own kind. She is still capable of growth, her devotion to her family has expanded outside of her blind crusade to find their scrappy remnants in the swamp. She’s still so human. It would make her vulnerable, if she wasn’t who she was.</p><p>“It isn’t a sacrifice,” Hayley repeats, like she’s trying to convince herself of it. “Jack is a good guy.”</p><p>“He’s not Elijah,” Klaus says, giving a voice to the long tense silence that follows. She sighs heavily, burying her face in her hands. He pauses, glancing carefully at her from the side of his vision. “I could tell him, if that would make it easier.”</p><p>“It wouldn’t.” Automatic. Annoyed. Another heavy silence. “Thank you, though.”</p><p>***</p><p>She grabs Klaus’ hand on his way out the door, his keys dangling from his fingers, and squeezes.</p><p>Elijah is hugging Rebekah goodbye from the car.</p><p>“Did you tell him yet?” he asks, unsure what she could want from him.</p><p>Hayley huffs a laugh, adjusting Hope on her hip. “Take care of Rebekah for us,” she says softly.</p><p><em>contrapposto</em>Klaus smiles at her, leaning down to kiss Hope softly, and then – tentative – he reaches out and caresses Hayley’s head like he would to Rebekah. He withdraws his hand, hoping Hayley knows what he could never find the words to express. How glad he is that she came into his life, upended his world, gave him the gift of Hope, keeps him honest and grounded while Elijah is losing his grip on reality and Rebekah is considering abandoning him for a short, mortal life. Hayley is here, standing in the doorway, holding his hand, holding his daughter, saying goodbye. “This will all be over soon enough,” he tells Hayley, assuring himself. “And when you return to New Orleans, you will be queen, little wolf.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hey yes i did rework this from my advent calendar from two years ago, pls read that one too.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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